Kolkata teenager’s murder case on fast track, 7 questioned

After three days of investigation into the mysterious death of 17-year-old Aabesh Dasgupta, Kolkata Police fast-tracked the probe on Tuesday and questioned seven persons, including five friends of the victim, and noted author Amit Chaudhuri, whose daughter’s birthday the youngsters had gathered to celebrate.

Aabesh Dasgupta’s mother at their residence in Kolkata.(Prateek Choudhery/HT Photo)

After three days of investigation into the mysterious death of 17-year-old Aabesh Dasgupta, Kolkata Police fast-tracked the probe on Tuesday and questioned seven persons, including five friends of the victim, and noted author Amit Chaudhuri, whose daughter’s birthday the youngsters had gathered to celebrate.

Statements of Chaudhuri and Tapan Nandi, father of one of the suspects, were video-recorded. The statements of the five youngsters present in the parking lot of Sunny Towers on Saturday during the incident were also videographed.

According to Lalbazar sources, officers have found discrepancies in statements of a few of Aabesh’s friends. When repeatedly asked why they left the spot without their friend, none of them could come up with a satisfactory answer.

Incidentally, police started a case under section 302 (murder) of IPC against unknown persons on Sunday itself.

On Tuesday, the investigators also went to a private hospital in south Kolkata where the mother of one of the suspects is admitted. This boy reportedly left the parking lot soon after Dasgupta ‘fell and started bleeding’, with the plea that his mother was not well and he had to rush to see her. The police wanted to check from CCTV footage of the hospital whether he went there at all.

Though the police was still without any clinching evidence, it was clear on Tuesday that the investigation began seriously.

“The death was due to injuries. These injuries are ante mortem in nature,” were the words written on the report of the post-mortem examination, according to Vishal Garg, joint commissioner, crime, Kolkata Police. Garg is leading the team formed on Monday.

The police also zeroed in on the shape of the edges of the broken bottle that were collected from the spot. “The edge of the bottle has to be such that the injury under the left arm (that sliced the artery leading to his death) should be created by it,” said an investigator.

Police is also collecting fingerprints of suspects and trying to match those on the broken bottle. They are also planning to send the clothes of a few suspects for forensic examination. The rap appeared to have come from the chief minister herself who directed the setting up of the special team and sent youth affairs minister Arup Biswas to the home of the Dasguptas.

One of the highlights that came to light was the number of injuries on the boy’s body. Police officers said there were three major injury marks and 26 minor ones, which led many officers to seriously question the accidental fall theory that a section of the investigators tried to circulate the day after the incident.

The police has come under widespread criticism for the soft handling of the shocking incident, with many people even alleging a cover-up.